The prevalence of Epstein-Barr virus infection in head and neck non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in Khorasan, northeast of Iran.

Objective: To investigate the frequency and possible role of Epstein-Barr virus infection in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas of the oral cavity and maxillofacial region in Khorasan (Northeast of Iran).

Methods: The cross-sectional retrospective study assessed the frequency of Epstein-Barr virus infection in non-immunosuppressed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cases of the oral cavity and maxillofacial region. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 34 cases of head and neck non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (17 low-grade B-cell lymphoma, 14 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and 3 peripheral T cell lymphoma) were selected as a case group, and 10 normal lymph node sections were considered as a control group. Polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the EBV-DNA in tissue specimens. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis of the data.

Results: EBV-DNA was detected in 26.5% of NHL samples. Among NHLs, Epstein-Barr virus was found to be positive in 50% cases with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and 11.8% of low grade B-cell lymphomas. Epstein-Barr virus was not detected in any cases of peripheral T-cell lymphoma.

Conclusions: Although it seems that Epstein-Barr virus appears to be an etiological factor in some subtypes of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, especially in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, more researches should be done to investigate the relationship between Epstein-Barr virus infection and head and neck non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.